What’s the verdict? Have elections or appointments contributed more to gender and racial diversity among Florida’s trial court judges?

Abstract

Florida uses two selection methods to determine who will serve as its judges – non-partisan elections and gubernatorial appointments. Little existing scholarship explores whether or how those selection methods influence the gender and racial diversity of the state’s judiciary. This research seeks to begin filling that void. Conventional wisdom suggests that Florida’s judiciary is dominated by white males. One part of this project was designed to evaluate that conventional wisdom by collecting data regarding the race and gender of Florida’s trial court judges and to compare that data with the same demographics of Florida’s general population. The data confirm that women comprise a lower percentage of Florida’s judiciary than of its general population. The data also confirm that racial minorities comprise a far lower percentage of the judiciary than of the general population. In short, conventional wisdom is correct. White males are disproportionately overrepresented among Florida’s trial court judges. The major focus of this research, though, was to attempt to determine whether the method employed for selecting judges influences the diversity of Florida’s trial court judiciary. The data suggest that, at least for judges selected within the last twenty years, elections tend to produce a greater proportion of female and minority trial court judges in Florida than do gubernatorial appointments.